Presently, information regarding one or more complex, multi-step tasks may be provided to users electronically, e.g., on one or more monitors, screens or other displays. For example, where a worker in an industrial or commercial environment is performing a task having a number of mandatory steps or actions, the various steps or actions required in order to accomplish the task may be shown to the worker on a computer display associated with a computer having a keyboard, mouse or other interactive device. The computer display may be mounted to one or more structural components or features of a workstation, and may display information regarding such steps or actions to a worker, who may read and comprehend the information, and execute the steps shown on the computer display in an order in which such steps are presented.
The use of computer displays to provide instructions to workers provides a number of advantages over prior art systems such as printed textbooks or other articles upon which text may be stamped or written. For example, the computer displays may provide customized or updated instructions to such workers more easily and efficiently than such other systems, and may be provided in conjunction with one or more tracking systems for monitoring a worker's performance of the one or more steps associated with the various tasks. Likewise, a single computer display may be programmed to display unique instructions for the performance of multiple tasks on a common user interface.
However, in order to read, recognize and respond to the instructions provided on a computer display mounted above or alongside a working surface of a workstation, e.g., in a location that does not interfere with the work being performed on the working surface or elsewhere at the workstation, a worker must first look at the computer display, and then look at his or her working surface, making any number of head movements, pivots or rotations that may be necessary in order to focus on the instructions shown on the computer display and the performance of the task on the working surface. Frequently, particularly for difficult or intricate tasks involving a number of tools, materials or other objects, tasks including a number of mandatory steps or actions, or tasks lasting an extended period of time, the worker is required to alternate between looking at the computer display and at the working surface several times in order to execute each step of the task.
Maintaining a physical separation between the computer display and the working surface results in a number of challenges. First, where a worker is unfamiliar with the layout or arrangement of a workstation or a working surface, or the tools, materials or other objects that are available there, the separation between the display and the working surface cannot aid the worker in finding such tools, materials or objects that are required in order to complete a task. Next, where a worker is tasked with completing tasks at a high rate of speed, the need to look first at a computer display and then at a working surface, and then at the computer display and at the working surface again several times, may cause the worker to fail to acknowledge critical information or recognize and perform one or more key steps or actions.